USDA to Provide Daily Update of Imports under the FY 2011 Tariff-Rate Quota for Refined Sugar

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Commodities

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2011—The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) will begin posting a daily update of the quantity of refined sugar that has been entered against the fiscal year 2011 refined sugar tariff-rate quota (TRQ). This information will be sourced from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which maintains the record of entries for this TRQ.

A message will be posted at approximately 3 p.m. each business day indicating the quantity of sugar, rounded to metric tons, which has been posted against this TRQ as of that time. This message can be heard by calling the phone number 202-690-5479. The message will be posted for two business days after the TRQ has filled. FAS cannot guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of this information, but nonetheless believes posting this information will enhance market transparency.

This announcement stems from a Sept. 30, 2011 announcement that increased the fiscal year 2011 refined sugar TRQ by 136,078 metric tons raw value (mtrv) and expanded the entry period until Nov. 30, 2011. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative subsequently allocated 25,000 mtrv of this increase to Canada and 111,078 mtrv to the global (first-come, first-served) TRQ. This increase was added to the previous FY 2011 global TRQ level of 7,090 mtrv bringing the total to 118,168 mtrv.